Hair Salon Containers

I am once again at "Capelli" hair salon getting my hair updated. I always take my sketchbook with me so I'm drawing at the salon waiting for the hair dye to kick in. What should I draw? I've already drawn most of the things in the salon, including the people, so what's left? Let's see: In accordance with the still life theme, I'll draw containers. At top: spray bottle of sterilizing liquid. Left: a water glass with some drinking water in it. Right: twin bottles of conditioner. Bottom: a moisturizer pump-action. Sizes are not accurately portrayed. There's always something to draw.

Sepia brown tech pen on sketchbook page, 5" x 5 1/2", June 6, 2019.

Art Models Colored Pencils 1972

Here are two more life drawing colored pencil experiments. I used the same pose, which means that I divided up an hour's posing time into two drawings. As you can see in this set I wasn't as concerned with accurate figure drawing as with color, texture, and light. I have hundreds of these drawings and I'm bringing you only the better ones. The blue stripes are tests for various shades of light blue.

Colored pencils on sketchbook page, 8" x 9", 1972.

Digital Atlantis

You never know what you're gonna get when you start doing a Photoshop Doodle. I started with a simple color gradient, dark blue to light blue, and then picked some "brush" patterns to add texture. The sparkles and the reflecting towers came later. Not too bad, and the light blue here is one of my favorite colors. I'm expecting Aquaman to come swimming into the picture, but maybe not.

Photoshop, 5" x 5", June 5, 2019.

Baseball Sketches 1972

I went to a baseball game at Fenway Park, in 1972. I take my sketchbook wherever I go, so I took it to the game, too. Fenway is small enough so that you can see the players and other participants on the field, so I drew what I saw. Many of the heroes of the tragic Red Sox World Series of 1975 were already there, like Carleton Fisk of the famous home run (upper left). I also emulated Leonardo da Vinci and sketched an elderly character with a large wen on his forehead. The Red Sox played the Milwaukee Brewers that evening but I don't remember whether they won or lost.

Pencil on sketchbook page, 10" x 8 1/2", summer 1972. Click for a larger view.

Thoughtful Coffee Drinker

This is one of my more unusual sketch concepts. It contains material from two places, the familiar coffee shops Amouri and Starbucks. I was interrupted at Amouri while drawing the background doorway, and didn't go back to it, so I was left with an open doorway with no one  in it. Today with the deadline of Posting Every Day upon me I decided to go back to Starbucks and finish the drawing with their details. So you see a combination of coffee house sights, including a drinker with his water bottle, coffee, headphones, and biking gloves. I don't like to show the people their portraits, and I make them not too accurate, so they won't be embarrassed.

OK then, under the wire for this one to continue the Everyday By-Product.

Sepia brown tech pen on sketchbook page, 5" x 6", June 3, 2019.

In a Land called Honah Lee

"Puff the Magic Dragon" is in WineWorld now. This is the "Under Vine" page I prepared for the book. I've visited Honah Lee Winery and Vineyard many times and sampled their wine which has a dragon/wineglass logo. The view from their viney hills is wonderful, stretching into the distance for miles. They also have a little farm market from their own gardens once the fruit is ready. 

You may notice that I am imitating the Notorious Thomas Kinkade "Painter of Light" and that's what I wanted. The image is a combination of traditional pencils and ink, and digital. You can see where I'm putting the writing but I think this version needs to be worked so that the writing is smaller. Otherwise it's hard to read against the background. This image, with the "Under Vine" logo, will be the cover of the book.

Photoshop composite, 8 1/2" x 11", May-June, 2019.

Modernist House, Des Moines

Every so often I'll like a piece of architecture so much that I will copy it from my resource book into my sketchbook journal. This is one of those structures. It is the "Butler House" in Des Moines, Iowa, built in 1934-36. The architects are listed as "Kraetsch and Kraetsch". The building is from the height of the Art Deco era. I adapted this design for a fantasy building which I blogged here many years ago. The real house still exists and has been turned into a luxury bed-and-breakfast. 

I apologize for the mess on the left side of the drawing. I couldn't get the sketchbook to lie flat on the scanner. A perpetual graphic design problem.

Black tech pen on sketchbook page, 7 1/2" x 3 1/2", May 29, 2003.